"What… are you talking about?"
Entetsu Kumoi's expression shifted between light and shadow. It looked impossible to read what he was thinking—yet in truth, his thoughts were already plain as day to Higashino Shuuichi.
Sometimes, the question itself was the answer.
"As far as I know, not long ago, the former Second Division taichō of Soul Society, Shihōin Yoruichi, suddenly returned to Soul Society—and stole a Reigai that had already had its soul erased, leaving only an empty shell: a vessel that possessed the abilities of the First Generation Thirteenth Division taichō, Sakahone Saizō."
Higashino Shuuichi sheathed his Zanpakutō to show sincerity.
"Heh… I knew it. That idiot—mediocre strength, yet always dreaming of challenging Yamamoto every day. Fine by me. Let him go back to Hell and reflect properly."
Entetsu Kumoi wasn't particularly surprised by the outcome. It was, more or less, within expectations.
"So if I'm not wrong, Entetsu Kumoi-taichō… the reason you made such a big show of releasing your reiatsu at the start was, one, to draw Soul Society's attention—and two, to signal to Sakahone Saizō-taichō that you'd arrived. Right?"
Higashino Shuuichi voiced his guess aloud.
"You're a clever young Shinigami. If I answered 'no' right now, you wouldn't believe me anyway, would you?" Entetsu Kumoi said, resting his Zanpakutō on his shoulder as if relaxing.
"Three questions. I want Entetsu Kumoi-taichō to answer three questions."
Higashino Shuuichi had gotten one answer he wanted—but he still needed far more.
"No problem. Not three—ten, a hundred, I'll answer them all. But, smart young Shinigami… you know what 'equal exchange' is, right?
"One question, one thing."
Entetsu Kumoi hadn't expected to meet such an interesting Shinigami here.
Back in their era, it was always: if you could cut, you cut—never talk. Every problem and condition got cut first. Only the one who won the cutting had the right to set terms.
Of course, those terms were humiliating, one-sided ones.
Yet even in that time, Entetsu Kumoi had been an exception.
He liked reasoning with people.
He liked equal exchange even more.
"Strange, isn't it?" Entetsu Kumoi muttered to himself while looking at Higashino Shuuichi. "Who'd have thought that among the First Generation Captains, there'd be a Shinigami as reasonable as me."
Higashino Shuuichi almost wanted to say, not really—because there was, in fact, an even more stubborn First Generation Captain still in Soul Society.
But seeing Entetsu Kumoi looking like he really wanted to explain himself, Higashino Shuuichi swallowed the words at the last moment.
"There are things you young Shinigami might not know.
"Do you know why I was the taichō of the Ninth Division prison unit in the original Gotei Thirteen?
"It wasn't because I was 'assigned' to that division like you are today. It's because I chose the Ninth Division as my number from the start. And because my ability and my personality suited being the prison unit's taichō, the Ninth Division's duty became the prison unit.
"Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"…"
Right now, Higashino Shuuichi only wanted to tell him a few words:
You really just said a whole lot of nothing.
Equal exchange was equal exchange—why the long-winded backstory?
Who cares why your Ninth Division was the prison unit?!
"Then my first question is this: you—and the other First Generation Captains who have descended into the Living World again using these special Reigai bodies—who do you serve now?"
Higashino Shuuichi threw the question out directly, which was the same as accepting Entetsu Kumoi's terms.
Entetsu Kumoi's answer was just as direct.
"Beat me… and you'll get the answer~"
How could I be even a little surprised?
Higashino Shuuichi felt absolutely no ripples in his heart at that condition.
As expected—after all that circling, the fight between him and Entetsu Kumoi was still unavoidable.
But then Higashino Shuuichi's lips curved into the faintest smile.
There was a saying he felt like gifting Entetsu Kumoi:
A gentleman can be tricked by straightforwardness.
A skull mask surfaced over Higashino Shuuichi's face, and in an instant, a skull-like armor reassembled itself across his entire body.
The Hollow hole at his abdomen proclaimed his identity.
"You can Hollowfy too?" Entetsu Kumoi said, unimpressed.
He'd seen Hollowfication before. He'd even fought those Hollowfied Shinigami before. He knew this stuff was mostly for intimidation—once you really got into a fight, it was kind of trash.
"This was supposed to be my second question," Higashino Shuuichi said, "but now it seems I don't need to ask it anymore. Entetsu Kumoi-taichō, you've already seen my former colleagues over at the West Administration, haven't you?"
This wasn't surprising either. Higashino Shuuichi had long prepared himself for it.
After all, across Soul Society's entire recorded history, there were only a handful of Shinigami who could Hollowfy—and every last one of them existed thanks to Aizen Sōsuke. So if Entetsu Kumoi had seen Hollowfication before this, there was only one possible channel.
"Hmph. You sly young Shinigami—you tricked me. You Hollowfied on purpose to fish information out of me, huh?
"So what if I did? So what if I didn't?
"Is that really important?"
How is that not important?
Higashino Shuuichi seriously wanted to roll his eyes right now.
Sure—if it were only the Visored, it wouldn't matter much. But the problem was: among the people with them right now, there was also a Shinigami named Urahara Kisuke.
With Urahara Kisuke's personality, Higashino Shuuichi refused to believe he wouldn't get greedy the moment he laid eyes on a group of special Reigai like this.
No… wait.
Higashino Shuuichi suddenly felt like he'd overlooked something.
What was it?
His mind raced back through every memory he had related to the West Administration, until he finally unearthed a conversation—tucked away in a corner so small he'd nearly forgotten it existed.
"Sayako… your Kabuma clan's sacred artifact, and the method to use it—besides you and me, does anyone else know?"
That had been a conversation in the Kabuma main estate, after Higashino Shuuichi had dealt with Sakahone Saizō in the Dangai.
"Some people among the other Four Great Clans know that the Kabuma clan's mission is to watch over Hell," Sayako had answered then. "But as for how we do it—besides us, only the Captain-Commander should know."
"And while you were in the West Administration, Sayako—did you ever have a moment of crisis where you were forced to use your Zanpakutō release?"
Back then, Higashino Shuuichi had remained obsessed with the strangely familiar divine markings on Sakahone Saizō, so he had pressed further.
This time, Sayako had shaken her head like a rattle drum.
"No. When we first arrived at the West Administration, we joined up with Urahara-taichō and the others. With Urahara-taichō protecting us, we weren't in danger at all.
"It was only later, after Kyōraku-taichō contacted the method of reaching us that Shūsuke had deliberately left behind—so you could regroup with us after returning to Osaka Prefecture—then we asked Shūsuke to help investigate the Asauchi disappearance case, and only then did we start acting independently."
At the time, those words had sounded perfectly fine to Higashino Shuuichi.
But now, hearing them again in his mind, he could see a blind spot he'd completely missed.
Sayako and the others had lived together with Urahara Kisuke's group for years.
For years.
The moment that clicked, a chill crawled up Higashino Shuuichi's spine.
He still remembered: back then, he'd only passed out for less than two days from exhaustion after sparring with Shihōin Yoruichi—and in that tiny window, Urahara Kisuke had already probed Bakkōtō Raika inside and out.
And now you're telling him Sayako and the others had lived with Urahara Kisuke for years?!
While Higashino Shuuichi wasn't there?!
Granted—at Higashino Shuuichi's current level, Urahara Kisuke could never pull tricks right under his nose anymore.
But Kisaragi Shūsuke and Kabuma Sayako weren't the same.
In front of Urahara Kisuke, weren't they basically lambs walking into a tiger's den?
If that was the case, then countless questions that had plagued Higashino Shuuichi suddenly gained perfectly reasonable answers.
Those strangely familiar divine markings on Sakahone Saizō and the others.
Shūsuke's Zanpakutō ability failing earlier.
If Urahara Kisuke's shadow truly lay behind all of it…
Well—no matter how much Higashino Shuuichi disliked him, he had to admit it: Urahara Kisuke was an outstanding scientist.
And even more than that—an outstanding countermeasure-type scientist.
To deal with a peak Aizen after multiple evolutions, Urahara Kisuke could produce a self-made Kidō on the level of Kyōka Kasenmetsu in a short time. So with ample time, creating a universal device to block soundwave erosion and installing it into a Reigai to counter Kisaragi Shūsuke… didn't seem hard to accept at all.
Only…
"Second question," Higashino Shuuichi said quietly. "This time, did you come here because you accepted Urahara Kisuke's instructions—or at least because you were influenced by him?"
What Higashino Shuuichi really wanted to know was: why had Urahara Kisuke gotten involved with Miyazaki Sakai Masato?
Were those two still in contact?
And what about Urahara Kisuke and Tsunayashiro Kamihara?
More importantly—the concrete contact person and contact method had been in the hands of Kobe Shiya, the man Higashino Shuuichi had killed earlier. Before, Higashino Shuuichi had been certain that the person Tsunayashiro Kamihara wanted him to contact was Miyazaki Sakai Masato.
But what if that person wasn't Miyazaki Sakai Masato?
What if it was Urahara Kisuke?
That possibility had never once entered Higashino Shuuichi's mind before—because his memories had boxed his thinking in.
He'd always believed: in the original plot, Urahara Kisuke always acted alone—or rather, he was firmly on the Soul King's side, and everything he did felt like he was cooperating with the Soul King's will.
He'd believed: in the original plot, Urahara Kisuke had no connection whatsoever with the Tsunayashiro clan.
In the original plot, Urahara—
Screw the "original plot"!
The plot had long since been warped beyond recognition because of his interference. For all he knew, Kurosaki Ichigo might not even be born properly in the future.
So why couldn't Urahara Kisuke, driven by his own will, choose to cooperate with the Tsunayashiro clan?
For a man like Urahara Kisuke, that wasn't impossible at all.
And if so… what did Urahara Kisuke want out of it?
Higashino Shuuichi didn't know.
And he believed the First Generation Captain in front of him didn't know either.
But there was one thing Higashino Shuuichi could be sure of:
Urahara Kisuke, just like him, definitely had "unseemly" designs on these special Reigai that Miyazaki Sakai Masato had poured everything into creating.
The difference was—
Higashino Shuuichi only dared to think about special Reigai that hadn't yet been exposed to Soul Society's eyes.
Urahara Kisuke was different.
He wanted them all.
Otherwise, Shihōin Yoruichi wouldn't have returned to Soul Society at such a specific timing.
Yeah.
That was very Urahara Kisuke.
"You're asking two questions, not one," Entetsu Kumoi said, "but it's fine. I won't nitpick the details.
"My second condition is this: bring that disobedient Shihōin brat to me.
"If Shihōin Chika can't discipline his juniors properly, then I'll do it for him. I'll teach them real good~"
Entetsu Kumoi's mouth split wide as he spoke. It looked like a smile—but Higashino Shuuichi could already feel the inferno of rage boiling inside him.
At that moment, Higashino Shuuichi understood.
"I see. Then I suppose I owe you an apology, Entetsu Kumoi-taichō.
"I promised three questions, but now I realize… I don't have any questions left to ask you.
"You've already told me every answer I needed."
"Hm?" Entetsu Kumoi frowned.
"Because you First Generation Captains are free," Higashino Shuuichi said. "Unbound. Unrestrained. Right?
"I'm guessing that was the condition Urahara Kisuke offered when he seized you from Miyazaki Sakai Masato.
"But even among First Generation Captains, you aren't of one mind. Some Captains are willing to work with Urahara Kisuke, while others prefer acting freely.
"If I were Urahara Kisuke… I'd do the same."
"Do what?" Entetsu Kumoi asked.
"Have you… come one after another… to die."
Higashino Shuuichi spat those last words out coldly.
He knew what he said might not be the truth.
But as long as Entetsu Kumoi believed it was the truth—
That was enough.
"Heh. Die? You sly young Shinigami—do you even realize how—"
Before Entetsu Kumoi could finish, Higashino Shuuichi's figure brushed past him.
A heart-shattering crack.
Blindness.
Death's rasping breath—like it could vanish at any second.
"Entetsu Kumoi-taichō… you've definitely never seen…"
Higashino Shuuichi's voice sank into an icy edge.
"…Karin (Resurrección) of a Hollow!"
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